Managing Habitats to Save Endangered Species

One out of five plant species are threatened with extinction. Almost a quarter of mammal species are endangered. The situation is just as bad or worse for reptiles (21% endangered), amphibians (30%), fish (21%), insects (22%) and mollusks (41%). Birds are doing slightly better (“just” 12% endangered). The main culprit here is habitat loss, not climate change. Sure, climate change will exacerbate the situation, but competent and well-funded habitat management would mitigate much of harm done by climate change.

Take the case of the recent devastating forest fires in California. A couple quotes:

Of course, we still need to do what we can to reduce greenhouse gases, expand renewables, and increase bio-resiliency to extreme weather conditions. But the fight to save endangered species needs broad public support, which is undermined when environmentalists define this fight as a battle against climate change. For instance, most Republicans actually care about the environment and support renewables. It’s not helpful to the cause of saving the biosphere to insist that these potential allies also embrace the most alarming climate change scenarios and to contemptuously dismiss them when they don’t. In that spirit…

9. Habitat Intervention - all habitats need to be monitored for ecosystem stress, whether due to climate change, disease, or decline of key species that other species depend upon (thereby jeopardizing the well-being of the entire biological community). Ideally, proactive measures and action plans are developed to address these issues, e.g., forest breaks to reduce spread of wildfires.

Final word: all biological communities are temporary assemblages of flora, fauna, and microorganisms that have come together by chance and opportunity. Long before humans entered the scene, dynamic disequilibrium ruled the biosphere. Habitat management is not about preserving a biological moment in a specific locale. It’s about maintaining biodiversity and saving species.